Nine out of the top ten most expensive neighbourhoods have seen average house prices fall over the past 12 months, with the only exception being Hampstead.

The report also found that Britain is home to 220,121 property millionaires, most of whom live in London and the South East. This is down slightly on the 223,119 this time last year.

Topping the rich list by far is Kensington with average house prices of almost £1.75m, making it the most expensive neighbourhood in Britain.

Celebrity residents of the exclusive London borough include Madonna, Nigella Lawson and Bernie Ecclestone. The Land Registry records a 6% increase in Kensington house prices since May 2010.

Kensington is also home to the most expensive street in Britain, Kensington Palace Gardens, dubbed 'billionaires row'.

An average house in this exclusive road, which is home to Saudi and Brunei royalty, sets residents back an average of £19.2m. Britain's richest man Lakshmi Mittal owns three properties on the gated avenue, which is situated in the heart of London's embassy land.

Kensington is streets ahead of its closest rival in the price stakes, Chelsea, where the average pad costs a mere £1.32m.

All of the top five neighbourhoods on the list boast average property prices of over £1m, including Knightsbridge, (£1.31m), Notting Hill, W11 (£1.17m) and West Brompton (£1.05m).

The top ten most expensive neighbourhoods in the country are all in the capital, bar one.

The only exception is Virginia Water, home to exclusive Wentworth Golf Club, where average house prices are £937,419.

London dominates the property price stakes, and is the home of 2,290 of Britain's 5,922 million-pound streets.

Elsewhere, among the top places with millionaire roads, where average property prices exceed £1m, is commuter hotspot Guildford (89), and WAG-frequented Cobham (78).

What your money gets you

When it comes to Britain's most expensive properties, the price is in the location.

A property in Kensington will cost 8.5 times more than an average property of the same size.

With the average cost of a square foot in Kensington being £1,193 and the average UK house price at £205,985, the regular homeowner would need to downsize to 173 square feet - a property the size of a reasonable living room - in order to acquire some of the UK's most expensive turf.

How far would £1m get you in some of Britain's most expensive neighbourhoods?

This could buy a three-bed flat in West Brompton, the fifth most expensive UK neighbourhood, or a four-bed house in Virginia Water, Zoopla's seventh most expensive neighbourhood.

£1m would not buy a property in any of Britain's top ten most expensive streets, where the prices start at an eye-watering £6.3m.

The figures reflect an increasing north-south divide in house price movements. Despite an annual fall of 1.3% in nationwide property prices, the Land Registry reports London prices have risen by an average of 5% over the past year.

In Windsor and Maidenhead, dubbed the 'most expensive area in Britain', the average property price of £389,120 rose by 1.3% during the past year.
The other top five expensive areas are London (£387,117), Surrey (£371,984), Hertfordshire (£300,914) and Oxfordshire (£284,402).

Land Registry figures show an overall increase in property prices by 0.5% in the South East, but a decline in the North East of 8.1% and a price drop of 4.6% in the North West.

Nick Leeming of Zoopla.co.uk said: 'Whilst house prices in some of the most expensive areas of the country have fallen a little over the past 12 months, they have held up far better than in many of the less expensive areas.

'Britons remain obsessed with the value of their home as well as those of their neighbours, friends and family.'